# A&E's Top 100 People of the Millenium **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 12, 1999, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831 "1999-10-12T15:21:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/21 "1999-10-12T20:08:00Z")
I’d say its equally flawed to the Time 100. Both included way to many non-factors like Princess Di, and modern entertainers who will be forgotten in 50 more years. I totally agree with he list that Gates belongs near the top, its just he’s been so vilified that people are certain he’s just a fad, well let me clue you in here, he’s at least as significant as Ford already, and he’s only had about 15 years to get to that point. He and a couple of others are the only exceptions to the thought that no one from the last 50 years belongs. Where can I find the entire list? I only saw the program in parts so I missed alot of it. Damn A&E get you website updated! Lazy bastards. I’m not sure about Gutenberg being number one. I definately believe his contribution is significant, and influenced most that have come since, but his invention is pretty basic, not all that revolutonary. I can’t help but think that within a few decades someone else would have made the same advance. It just too simple, and non-distinctive. I’d lean more towards Einstein, Newton, or Nobel. But I’ll have more to share after I get to see the entire concise list. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/22 "1999-10-12T20:10:00Z")
Um, IIRC Beethoven was on the list and was higher than Mozart and Bach. Nevertheless he was definately on the list in the top 25. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/23 "1999-10-12T20:12:00Z")
Wait a minute! > [@](#): > > Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus > 1719-1787 Did Mozart really live until he was 68? I thought he died in his thirties! And I also found out that not only was Princess Diana not an AIDS patient, she wasn’t a male either! What are they tryin ta push over on us? (Who would name their kid The Beatles anyway?) ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/24 "1999-10-12T20:17:00Z")
Mozart 1756 - 1791 Much better ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/25 "1999-10-12T20:20:00Z")
Did you know that there were four U.S. Presidents who made the Bill of Rights part of the Constitution? That must mean the first forty amendments are all part of the Bill of Rights! (James Madison reference. I’ll shut up now.) ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/26 "1999-10-12T20:21:00Z")
did i miss the wright bros? Martin Luther also is the first to write the commom rules for bowling, where would we be without that? and elvis!!! Long live the king ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/27 "1999-10-12T20:37:00Z")
I had a hard time with the performers–differentiating “popular” from “important.” I don’t like Charlie Chaplin, but can’t really argue against his inclusion. Though I would say Mary Pickford was just as important in the formation of the film industry and as one of the first film superstars. Marilyn Monroe will probably be remembered in 100 years–but was she “important?” Irving Berlin was important, as were Harrigan & Hart, Edwin Booth, Louisa Lane Drew, Weber & Fields, Florenz Ziegfeld–but stage stars and producers aren’t as well remembered, because their work dies with them. Probably the only 19th century stage stars the “man on the street” knows today are Sarah Bernhardt and (for the wrong reason) John Wilkes Booth. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/28 "1999-10-12T21:02:00Z")
Well, if you want to add Mary Pickford to Chaplin because she was an archetype, why not throw in Doug Fairbanks, too? Just in case you need to have your buckles swashed. D.W. Griffith’s on the list already, so we could have ALL the United Artists. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Narile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/29 "1999-10-13T00:18:00Z")
Polycarp, correct. Gen George C. Marshall, a great man. The Wright Bros were #40 on the final list, and as I grew up near Huffman prairie outside of Dayton, am very happy A&E didn’t pull a Disney. (In the ride at Epcot where you see the history of inventions, they have the Wright Brothers animatronics saying they are N.Carolina natives…Grrrrrr.) * * * \>\>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.\<\< —The dragon observes ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/30 "1999-10-13T01:08:00Z")
Omniscient wrote: > [@](#): > > Um, IIRC Beethoven was on the list and was higher than Mozart and Bach. Nevertheless he was definately on the list in the top 25. Beethoven may have been in the A&E Top 100 show(s), but he sure as heck wasn’t among the Top 250 on the URL given in the OP. Glad A&E changed their minds about Ludwig Van, if he did appear. * * * Quick-N-Dirty Aviation: Trading altitude for airspeed since 1992. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/31 "1999-10-13T01:16:00Z")
Millennium List 1706-1978: [http://www.biography.com/features/millennium/list3.html](http://www.biography.com/features/millennium/list3.html) Beethoven’s bio page: [http://search.biography.com/print\_record.pl?id=1340](http://search.biography.com/print_record.pl?id=1340) Read more carefully next time. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/32 "1999-10-13T01:17:00Z")
And now, the moment I’m sure you’ve _all_ been waiting for. Namely, MY vote for most influential person of the millennium. My vote for the #1 most influential person in the entire millennium goes to … … (drum roll) … **Nicholas LeBlanc**!! Who is Nicholas LeBlanc, you ask? He was the man who, in 1791, invented a cheap way to make lye from ordinary salt. And cheap lye meant … _cheap soap!!!_ No single invention in this millennium has probably had a greater or more far-reaching impact than abundant soap. The difference it made in ones chance of surviving to adolescence, due to the vastly improved sanitary conditions it allowed (not to mention its action as a minor disinfectant) was astounding. The all-encompassing lifestyle change that came with soap was so profound that unless you’re living in a 4th-world country as you read this, you probably can’t even _imagine_ life without it. That wacky fat-and-lye mixture! * * * Quick-N-Dirty Aviation: Trading altitude for airspeed since 1992. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/33 "1999-10-13T01:22:00Z")
Omniscient: Huh. I’ll be darned. I coulda sworn L. van B. wasn’t on the Top 250 list (page 3) the first two times I looked. Musta been those aliens who abducted me. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/34 "1999-10-13T01:56:00Z")
I’ll let it slide…once! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/35 "1999-10-13T02:20:00Z")
Am I just blind, or is Marx really not on their list? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/36 "1999-10-13T02:40:00Z")
I haven’t seen either list yet, but I’m sure to before the day is out. I just wanted to jump in and point out that they DO have another year to get it right. As everyone HERE knows. 🙂 Kaylasdad * * * Only a yar??? I’d better get crackin’ on that FTL perpetual motion doo-hickey in the basement. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/37 "1999-10-13T02:44:00Z")
Note to Self: Don’t just proofread the posts; proofread the signature line, too. * * * Only a year??? I’d better get crackin’ on that FTL perpetual motion doo-hickey in the basement. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/38 "1999-10-13T03:30:00Z")
MandaJo, assuming you mean Karl and not Groucho, he indeed was. Top 10, in fact, IIRC. Although, I can’t seem to find him on the webpage either. Hrmmm… * * * ‘They couldn’t hit an Elephant from this dist…!’ Last words of General John Sedgwick ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/39 "1999-10-13T03:32:00Z")
…dad, be careful, bringing up that millenium crap is likely to get you stoned in these parts. ---
**Author:** ![John\_John](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@John\_John](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_John)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 1999, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831/40 "1999-10-13T11:14:00Z")
Was Rachel Carson on that list? * * * Brille “Wet Floor” sign does not mean do it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-es-top-100-people-of-the-millenium/16831.md?page=3)